The /6 thread.....

[Cranky]

Since there's some talk about these leaning tower of power engines, I thought it might be time to start a thread with them as the topic. I've had a few vehicles that had them...the first being a 67 Dart 3 speed and 3.91 gears. Got great mileage in town (not even going to talk about highway lol) and ran pretty good. Never took it to the track but it would stay with guys that had run in the upper 16 second ET. It had a few mods but mostly to the exhaust, carb, and the like.

2nd was a 74 Dodge pickup. That one taught me to never buy another pickup with a 6 lol.

My 66 Belvedere came with the 6 and automatic and I drove (put up with) it for 10 years. Got it to run mid 19's really consistent at the track with 2.94 gears and best ET was 18.10 with 4.10's. Mod's with this car was basically the same as the 67 Dart but the Dart seemed to be much faster. When I got the car, it ran low 20's lol. Maybe due to the transmissions?

Anyways, never was too impressed with the /6 engine. Heck, the Chevy 250 ran much better without any mods and the Ford 200 would hold it's own and get better mileage. Also, the bottom end seems kinda weak to me. The number of main bearings vs the other brands to the size of the rod beams. Anyone have pics of the bottom end of these?

I know there are some out there running pretty fast but don't know what kind of mods have been done to them to make them stay together or what kind of money it takes to push them so hard. I like to be different too but don't like breaking the bank to do it either!

 

[Meep-Meep]

I had a 70 Challenger with the leaning tower of power and a 68 Belvedere converted to a Ranchero. My dad had a Duster, Valiant and a Dart. The thing I hated was changing points on those - that is until I got smart and started taking the distributor out for the service. Much easier when you can actually see what you are doing!

Back in the 80's a buddy of mine had a 70 Duster with a built up one. It had cut down 318 valves, big cam with something like .550 lift 300 duration, higher compression, 4 BBL, etc.. It ran mid 15's with a three speed and he would shift it at 6 KRPM. I didn't believe it until he told me to do it. There I was revving the crap out of a 4.12" stroke 4 main bearing engine. It never came apart though.

There is a guy I see at the track that runs 11's in a 62 Valiant. He says it's about 260 CI now and that they can be bored for days! His is something like .100" over!!

Now what I always thought was a really neat six is the OHC Pontiac. An old buddy of mine has a few, including the factory 4BBL version with split exhaust.

 

[74Satellite]

I had a '75 Dart with a slant six and the '74 Satty I drive now is a slant six. The BEST things you can do for a slant six is to let it breath. Bigger exhaust, bigger carb, and deck the cylinder head a thousand. Those three things make a huge differenece...and Meep-Meep is correct in stating there is plenty of material for boring....the cylinder walls are quite thick..(I think its one of the reasons they are so hard to blow up)

 

[Cranky]

Hey Meep, was he using stock rods still? And I did the same thing with taking the dizzy out at tune up time but electronic ignition was the way to go when it finally came out.

74, A buddy tried to 'super' bore one and ended up with sticking in sleeves but once the original bores were just about gone, he couldn't keep a head gasket on it anymore. After trying several different kinds including copper, he gave up. It did run pretty good for the short periods that it did...

 

[74Satellite]

Im still fighting with what to do with the slant six in my satellite. Part of me wants to keep the car original and rebuilt the six. Another part of me wants to slap the 451 I am slooooowly building in it. the big block 727 trans is rebuilt and repainted ready to go. Got the 400 stripped down ready for machine work. Slowly picking up parts here and there to make the conversion work. (Just got the trans cooler lines from inline tube yesterday). Even as Im buying parts for the 451 stroker my mind keeps telling me to keep the /6 in the car. I am going to be parting out my roadrunner here in a few weeks to get more money for the satellite.

Decisions decisions....

 

[MRHWS]

I had a '65 Valiant with the 225 to use for work. My '71 Duster was only getting about 8 mpg and the cheaper transportation was a godsend. Run a little rough when I bought it and found 1 spark plug broken in half. replaced all 6 and drove like a champ. Got a $29.95 Earl Shieb paint job, drove it a year and got 3X my purchase price on a VW bug trade-in.

 

[74Satellite]

Cranky...here are a few good reads on the slant six engine...

http://www.slantsix.org/articles/articles.htm

 

[Meep-Meep]

Cranky, my 70 Duster buddy had a stock bottom end with the exception of forged pistons. I remember he was so happy after his first pass at Fremont when he beat a small block Falcon. I have no idea about the 11 sec. one but probably safe to assume it's got everything including the kitchen sink!

I wouldn't mind building up a gas mileage - kind of a road race driver project one day. Maybe a 67-69 Dart or Valiant and run the late model OD 4 spd. I'm pretty sure that tranny would hold up fine in that application!

 

[MarPar]